LEGOs more than child's play

Robot competition helps make math and science enjoyable

Robot competition helps make math and science enjoyable

December 09, 2005|JULIE FERRARO Tribune Correspondent

SOUTH BEND -- Some people might think of LEGOs as the small building blocks that are stepped on in the living room when the children don't put them away at night. For dozens of area students, though, LEGOs are part of an intensive project in robotics. More than 25 teams brought their creations to Stepan Center on the University of Notre Dame campus Sunday to compete in the FIRST LEGO League qualifying tournament. The FIRST LEGO League competition has been held annually since 1998. FIRST is a nonprofit corporation -- the letters meaning "For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology." The purpose is to make math, science, technology and engineering both fun and appealing to youngsters. In partnership with LEGO, each year a different theme is chosen for the robotics competition, to provide students with the challenge of using special computer software to program their robots. This year's theme was "Ocean Odyssey." Learning combined with fun in the months students prepared for the competition. The team from Prairie Vista Elementary School researched oil spills as part of its project. Fourth-grader Nitin Arora discovered the causes of oil spills, and how devastating they are on the environment. Teammate Justin Skycak was glad to be able to offer solutions to the problem. By creating taxes on the oil tankers, he said, "The taxes would pay for the clean up" if there was an oil spill. The day was mostly about the robots. "Kids like to work with LEGOs," said Carol Osmer, one of the event's organizers, "especially when you can make them do something." Humorous team names -- such as the "Aquabricks," Prairie Vista's "Barnical Brainiacs" and the "Dynamic Dolphins" -- lightened a bit of the tension. The "Lego Pirates," a team from Niles, sported bandannas and pirate hats. Logan Runyon, 15, even wore a large felt fish which covered his head. The "Tropical Trouble" team -- six girls from Schmucker Middle School -- really promoted themselves with great enthusiasm. They wore customized T-shirts and leis, displayed a banner with their team name and even had business cards! It was all business, though, when the youngsters brought their functioning robots before the judges. Making presentations on their research and technical programming, the teams then moved into an arena-style setting, to show just what their robots can do. Placed on 8-foot-by-4-foot tables in the arena, and the robots were required to perform four tasks in a 2 1/2-minute period. Unlike a remote control device, where a joystick controls movement from a distance, the human element was totally removed. Each robot's programming had been done beforehand, ensuring the LEGO appendages were able to "free" a dolphin from a net, knock down a LEGO shark without disturbing nearby fish and maneuver rows of flags into a standing position. Each robot was constructed differently, reflecting the unique approaches each team took to their project. The Robo Kings from Christ the King School in South Bend was small and squarish, with two wheels at the rear, and sliders near the front. Seventh-grader T.J. Polega revealed that nearly 500 LEGOs went into the robot's construction. "It's relatively small. If it gets big, it gets slow and bulky," he added. Not every robot could perform every function during the competition. The Robo Kings knew ahead of time their robot would not be able to retrieve a small submarine from the deck of a "sunken" ship. Jacob Yoder, one of the programmers from the Bremen Botz! team, knew their robot would have difficulty maneuvering the flags. "We hope to score 370 out of 400," stated teammate Jordan Nykiel. Most of the teams tested their robots on the practice tables before the actual competition. Like the Lego Pirates, the programming wasn't "perfectly right," as Runyon observed. "We run it, see what's wrong, tweak it, then run it again." Excitement ran high as the robots moved across the tables, with team members holding their breath as they watched. Some were satisfied, others resolved to do better next year. Numerous awards were presented at the conclusion of Sunday's lengthy competition. Besides Research Presentation and Robot Performance awards, Team Spirit and Teamwork were also honored. There was even an "Against All Odds" award for the team which rose from the worst situation, never giving up, to make a respectable showing. This was won by the Deep Sea Robotics from Warsaw. The teams who triumphed at the Notre Dame competition move on to the statewide competition this Saturday at Indiana University-Purdue University in Fort Wayne. There will be a national competition for the top winners at the state level in April 2006.